Ozzie Smith

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Ozzie Smith (born Osborne Earl Smith on December 26, 1954 in Mobile, Alabama), is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball, a 13-time Gold Glove Award winner who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2003, he was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. He is widely cited as the greatest defensive player of all time, hence his nickname "The Wizard of Oz".

Smith broke in with the San Diego Padres, and then was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982. He promptly led the team to the World Series championship in his first year, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 4 games to 3. The team reached the World Series again in 1985, thanks in large part to a game winning home run Smith hit in the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. This home run was made famous for its radio call by broadcaster Jack Buck, "Go crazy folks, go crazy." They went on to lose the Series to the Kansas City Royals in seven games. They also lost the 1987 World Series to the Minnesota Twins in seven games.

A weak hitter early in his career, Smith improved at the plate through the years. He never had much power; however, because of his speed and somewhat average hitting skills he developed over the years, he was able to serve as a competent leadoff hitter. His real asset was his glove, with which he often won more ball games than the hitters on his team did. Smith was fast and had good reflexes, leading to 580 career steals, good for 20th on the all-time list.

Ozzie's greatest season came in 1987, when he had a .303 batting average, 43 stolen bases, 75 RBIs, 104 runs scored, and 40 doubles en route to helping the Cardinals get into the playoffs, although he did not hit a home run that season. Smith mostly batted second in the lineup that year with his plate discipline allowing leadoff hitter Vince Coleman to steal over 100 bases.

It was one of the best seasons ever recorded by a weak power leadoff hitter like Smith. He ended up second in the MVP balloting to Andre Dawson, who had played on the last-placed Chicago Cubs, largely because he and fellow Cardinal Jack Clark split the first place vote.

Following the 1987 season, Ozzie was awarded the highest contract in the National League at $2,340,000. He continued to be a good leadoff hitter with savvy baserunning skills and excellent fielding for the rest of his career.

Smith is only the 37th player of the 252 elected to the Hall to date to be so honored in his first year of eligibility.

In 1999, he ranked Number 87 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Ozzie Smith is often remembered for his acrobatics in the field as a very versatile shortstop. He is best remembered for [link] this famous picture of him doing a back flip during a moment of elation, rightfully giving him the nickname 'Wizard of Oz'.

Many say he made the single greatest play of all time in his rookie season with the Padres in 1978. Smith playing shortstop dives to his left for a grounder up the middle off the bat of Atlanta's Jeff Burroughs. The ball hits a small stone in the dirt and takes a crazy bounce in the opposite direction. Instinctively, he reaches up with his bare right hand and rips the ball out of the air. In one complete motion he springs up and fires the ball to first base before Burroughs arrives. Smith himself calls it "the toughest play I've eve had," and of an informal survey of big leaguers, a majority of them mentioned this play as the most amazing they have ever seen.

Shortly after his playing days were over, Smith took over for the late Mel Allen as the host of the long running TV series This Week in Baseball.

Trivia

His son, Nikko Smith, was a contestant on the popular American television series American Idol in the spring of 2005. However, viewers voted him off of the show on the April 6 episode.

Another son Dustin Smith, plays college baseball in Belleville Illinois for the Blue Storm.

Voiced himself in the 1992 episode of The Simpsons, "Homer at the Bat".

At odds with current management

Following his retirement from baseball, Smith has refused to associate himself with the Cardinals, although he continues to make public appearances and embraces the franchise. Smith has stated that he will not work with the franchise as long as the current management is in charge. It is speculated that Smith is still upset at current Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa about being, in Smith's mind, slighted in 1996 when Cardinal management acquired short-stop Royce Clayton from the San Francisco Giants. The acquisition of Clayton proved to greatly diminish Smith's playing time in what would prove to be his last season in the Major Leagues.[link]

External links

[Baseball Hall of Fame]
[Baseball-Reference.com] - career statistics and analysis
[Ozzie's Restaurant & Sports Bar in St. Louis]
[St. Louis Walk of Fame]

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